semi-powered keeper in janky meta

[3libras]

I now have 5 of the 8 power ten commonly used in paragon keeper (sapph,pearl, ancestral, walk, library) all the legends rares, the appropriate duals and all the other cards for keeper. I play in a very random metagame very few control decks and strange aggro decks, and am one of the few people with access to power. I want a keeper deck that can regularly plow through an unpowered scrub/casual environment, bu still be good against the occasional control deck I face. I also play in a high power/ high playskill area. I was wondering what changes i would make for that kind of place. Here is my current list.....

Blue                    total 21
4 mana drain
4 force of will
1 misdirection
1 counterspell
1 mystical tutor
1 merchant scroll
1 ancestral recall
1 timewalk
1 fact or fiction
1 stroke of genius
1 braingeyser
2 cunning wish
2 brainstorm

Black                       total 5
1 chainer's edict
1 the ayss
1 yawgmoth's will
1 demonic tutor
1 mindtwist

Red                         total 1
1 fire/ice

White                      total 3
1 Balance
2 swords to plowshares

Artifacts                  total 2
1 powder keg
1 zuran orb

Mana                      total 28
1 mox sapphire
1 mox pearl
1 sol ring
4 polluted delta
2 flooded strand
4 underground sea
3 volcanic island
3 tundra
1 undiscovered paradise
1 city of brass
2 island
3 wasteland
1 strip mine
1 library of alexandria

* I may be getting ruby/jet soon.

[TunaBoo]

Have you played it yet in the metagame? Are you winning? Any trouble matchups?

[spin13]

My first recommendation would be the inclusion of a pair of Morphlings.  To make room for them, as it doesn't appear you simply forgot them, I would cut the vanilla Counterspell and either one of the Swords or the Keg.

Secondly, I would recommend at least building a skeleton Sideboard.  While Sideboards change very often and usually with little notice, planning what Instants you want for Cunning Wish is important.  It not only shapes how the Wish plays but it also dictates the approximate room you have for non-Instant sideboard cards like COPs or Aura Fracture.  Knowing that certain cards are must haves, or proving that you make up for maindeck losses (ie, no Shaman or Artifact/Enchantment removal), is also important.

As for the mana-base, I'd probably experiment with a full complement of duals or an extra Island or something before I started adding more than 4 Fetchlands.  Its important to remember that while Fetches help protect land-drops, they don't protect lands; and while they find appropriate colors on demand, they only serve to lessen the remaining sources of that color in the deck.  The power of the Fetchlands only comes with responsibility, and even the slightest alterates call for at least an examination of those responsibilities and any repercussions and consequences that might come with.

I'm also curious as to why you want a deck that can plow through masses of untuned decks, but mention a high level of play and card availability near you.  You seem to contradict yourself.  And if you only wish to beat casual/crap decks for one-on-one, you should do so by aiming high (at the few good decks) and outplaying the rest (though you should have all the tools necessary anyway).

 -Eric

[3libras]

oh damn, i forgot the morphlings, wow that was stupid, in that case out come the vanilla counter and... i'm not sure what else. it doesn't seem to make sense to play only one plow when (in the crappy meta [i'm talking about two different metas, one is crappy, one is very good]) there are about 0-1 powered control decks that it would be dead against, that's also why i cut the monkey for a keg as mox monkey isn't incredibly useful in a nearly moxless place. maybe since i'm lacking some artifact power i could go to 27 sources?

[theorigamist]

The artifact power you lack is the reason you can't go down to 27 sources.  You need to replace the explosiveness of the lost Moxen and Lotus with consistency.  Stay at 28 sources.  I'd drop the Mind Twist in an aggro environment.  The aggro deck will drop it's hand right away, and then Twist is useless.  So in an aggro meta, Twist is really only useful if you can do it in the first turn or two, and then it's only useful with a full set of Moxen and Black Lotus.  By the way, what kind of aggro are we talking here?  For example, Misdirection is useless against Stompy, but not against Sligh.  Something like Powder Keg, although good against any weenie aggro, is somewhat too slow against TnT (although I doubt you see much of that in an unpowered meta).

[spin13]

I recommend -not- cutting Mind Twist.  While I would recommend staying away from any sort of discard theme, I can't say that running a one-of that single handedly takes care of an entire aspect of your opponent's game is a bad thing.  Remember, you may not have crazy Lotus fueled Twists, and you may not always be catching a full hand, but Mind Twisting an opponent for even 2 or 3 can make a difference.  

Think about it this way: you have two choices.  You can either Ancestral yourself, or you can Mind Twist your opponent for 3.  Assume your opponent is playing Sligh and is tapped, or close to it, because its the early mid-game and he's still busy casting threats, admists you casting your removal.  Imagine you Mind Twist him and hit 3 Bolts.  You've created a 3 to 1 advantage, which is a good thing, and you've neutralized 3 threats, which is also excellent.  Now if you cast Ancestral, you can't complain, it will always be good.  But what if you draw Mana Drain, Mystical Tutor, and a land?  Is that going to stop all 3 bolts sitting in the opponents hand?  Now of course this is no argument that Ancestral is bad, but what it should point out is that Mind Twist is not only card advantage, but it provides an advantage that can be duplicated by no other card accessible to a blue-based deck.  

Besides, Mind Twisting a handful of REBs or a waiting Sui player's Yawg Will is never a bad thing.

As for the two separate metagames, I really think you should prepare for each as though it were the only metagame you played in.  It doesn't hurt to have maindeck tweaks from one store to another, just as you would from one tournament to another.  However, there is an even easier solution; one that builds playskill at that.  If you build your deck to compete in the high-power, high-skill environment, you should have more than enough to compete in a low powered environment.  It may take a few SB tweaks, but thats exactly what the SB is for, and its reasons like this that make the SB a fairly flucuating entity.

 -Eric

[Dante]

I agree with Eric - there's nothing better than Mindtwisting away a bunch of threats - and you do have 2 moxes + mana drains to power it (besides normal land drops).

I've found maindecking Moat and Abyss to be useful in an environment like this, maybe try it out as a 61st card.  Also, if it's mostly aggro, maybe consider the Grim Monolith/Power Artifact combo as there won't be a lot of counter magic to worry about.

also - I'm assuming you're not seeing a lot of Back to Basics, but are you seeing a lot of sided (or maindecks) bloodmoons?  If not, maybe switch the islands for more duals.

Dante